Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The Author examines the notions of social policy that were raised in Poland between Great Wars in socialist Poland and will need to be faced both by the social policy scholars and government in the coming years.

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The Author focus on definitions presented by economists, social policy analysts, sociologists and legal scholars of social policy as an applied social science. He addressed the following issues: 1) the inadequacy an inefficiency of the social policies during the former times; 2) basic needs and popular expectations related to job availability, unemployment, social security, social assistance, medical care services, housing shortage, high cost of living, educational training.

THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The Author points out the necessity to change the role of the state from passive to active player, encourage NGO’s to participate to much greater extent in social policy matters.

RESEARCH RESULTS: The collapse of the previous “red tape” system of welfare ought to be replaced with a new system based on combination of mutual aid principles, conservative corporatist social policy and in the most difficult, limited cases on the humanitarian ideas.

CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The part third and the last one of the paper entitled “The faire distribution of goods” deals with non-economic criteria: justice, fairness and other humanistic values in the process of distributing social services, social assistance and social help among those cannot performed any type of work. The essence of social policy run by the state and other public as well as prove institution cover the following social services: income maintenance during the period sickness, unemployment, disability, and old age, housing, medical care and education. Child allowance described in the first part of the article (“500 plus”) right now is presented by the state government as the most important instruments of social policy programs’. However, a more positive and politically motivated commitment of the state government to engage itself in the social assistance kind of social policy program is limited due to the very fact that it cannot be qualified as purposeful commitment of the government and its public policy into the general welfare of the entire community.